Palestinians push Nativity church as Heritage sitePARIS (AP) — The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is becoming the church of contention, with a bid by the Palestinians to use their position as the newest members of the U.N.’s cultural arm to obtain World Heritage status for the iconic Christian site — and perhaps boost their own campaign for legitimacy. The effort by the Palestinian Authority, like its overall efforts for global recognition for an independent Palestinian state, is drawing...

Huge US, SKorea war games called warning to NKoreaPOCHEON, South Korea (AP) — A huge North Korean flag disappeared behind a tower of flames and thick black smoke Friday as South Korean fighter jets and U.S. attack helicopters fired rockets in the allies’ biggest joint live-fire drills since the Korean War. The war games south of the heavily armed Korean border come amid rising animosity between the rival Koreas and are meant to mark Monday’s 62nd anniversary of the start of the 1950-53 war, w...

Paraguay leader tries to quell diplomatic falloutASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguay’s newly sworn-in president set about forming a new government Saturday as he promised to honor foreign commitments, respect private property and reach out to Latin American leaders to minimize diplomatic fallout and keep his country from becoming a regional pariah. In a brief appearance before international journalists, Federico Franco tried to broadcast a sense of normality a day after lawmakers overwhelming...

Fading political left still thrives in Mexico CityMEXICO CITY (AP) — When it comes to the presidency, Mexico’s voters are fed up and ready to throw the ruling the party out. But in the nation’s capital, the progressive island known as Mexico City, they’re about to hand the leftist political party that has ruled since 1997 an election-day valentine. Boyish mayoral candidate Miguel Angel Mancera of the Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, holds an astonishing lead of about 50 points in polls go...

Syrian civilians hit hard by spreading violenceKHAN SHEIKHOUN, Syria (AP) — Her daughter, 8, often hides in a closet, terrified of flying bullets. Her son, 6, still asks for his father months after he turned up in a morgue. And the family has little income because her brother-in-law was killed too. Umm Moussa’s extended family is smaller now. They live day to day in a house of simply furnished concrete rooms around an empty courtyard in this dusty city in northern Syria. “I’m always worrie...

Syria says it shot down Turkish air forceANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Syria said Friday it shot down a Turkish military plane that entered Syrian air space, and Turkey vowed to “determinedly take necessary steps” in response. It was the most clear and dramatic escalation in tensions between the two countries, which used to be allies before the Syrian revolt began in March 2011. Turkey has become one of the strongest critics of the Syrian regime’s brutal response to the country’s uprising. L...

Tension soars as Egypt awaits vote resultsCAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s military and the Muslim Brotherhood traded blame for rising tensions Friday as the country awaited the outcome of a presidential runoff vote that pits an Islamist against ousted leader Hosni Mubarak’s former prime minister. Brotherhood leaders said the ruling military council is holding the election results hostage as it bargains to maintain its lock on power. Tens of thousands of supporters of the Islamist group have rall...

Syrian government accuses rebels of mass killingBEIRUT (AP) — An online video showed more than a dozen bloodied corpses, some of them piled atop each other and in military uniforms, dumped beside a road in northern Syria in what the government Friday called a mass killing by rebel forces. The circumstances of the deaths were not immediately clear, with the state-run news agency saying at least 25 men were killed. In the video — which The Associated Press could not independently verify — the...

Taliban gunmen lay siege to Afghan hotel, 18 deadKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Heavily armed Taliban gunmen stormed a lakeside hotel near Kabul, sending terrified guests jumping from windows or into a lake to try to escape the onslaught. Eighteen people were killed in the 12-hour rampage, their bullet-riddled bodies strewn on carpets, on the lawn and a blood-smeared patio. The attack, which ended at midday Friday, was a gruesome reminder of the Taliban’s determination to scare the Afghan people ...

European leaders push for $163 bln in measuresROME (AP) — The leaders of France, Germany, Italy and Spain have agreed to push for a growth package worth up to (euro) 130 billion ($163 billion) at a European Union summit next week that’s intended to kick-start the economy and safeguard the currency bloc. President Francois Hollande of France, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and Italian Premier Mario Monti, playing host, provided few details beyond agre...

Pakistan gets new PM amid political turmoilISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistani lawmakers elected a ruling party loyalist with a checkered past as prime minister on Friday, restoring government to the country after days of political turmoil. But the election of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was unlikely to calm the tensions roiling the country, and many predicted he would face the same fate as his predecessor who was ousted earlier this week. The drama highlighted the turbulent nature of politics in this ...

90 still missing after boat capsizes off IndonesiaCANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A search continued Friday for scores of men missing after a steel-hull fishing boat carrying about 200 suspected asylum seekers bound for Australia capsized in heavy seas south of Indonesia. Four Indonesian and Australian warships, four merchant ships and five Australian government aircraft had joined the search in (7-foot swells for around 90 people still missing after the tragedy Thursday, Australian Maritime Safet...

Homes searched in Indonesian crash that killed 11JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Rescuers Friday resumed searching burned-out houses struck by an Indonesian air force plane that crashed into the military housing complex and ignited a huge fireball in the capital, killing 11 people. The dead were two children, their grandmother and an aunt in one of the eight damaged homes, and the seven people on the plane — the pilot, co-pilot and five trainees. The Fokker F-27 was making a routine training fligh...

Paraguay lawmakers impeach president, trial FridayASUNCION, Paraguay (AP) — Paraguayan lawmakers voted to impeach President Fernando Lugo for his role in a deadly clash involving landless farmers and announced that the former Roman Catholic bishop’s trial would begin on Friday in the Senate. Lugo, who was elected four years ago on promises that he would help the South American country’s poor, went on national television to dismiss rumors that he would resign and vowed to face the trial “with ...

Norway prosecutors assert Breivik insaneOSLO, Norway (AP) — If Norwegian prosecutors get their way, no one will be held criminally responsible for the deaths of 77 people in a bomb and shooting rampage that roiled the peaceful nation. Even though self-styled anti-Muslim militant Anders Behring Breivik insists he is sane and that he carried out the July 22 attacks for political reasons, prosecutors said in closing arguments Thursday that doubts about his mental state mean he should b...

New Pakistan PM candidate faces arrest warrantISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani judge issued an arrest warrant Thursday for the ruling party’s candidate for prime minister over allegations he illegally imported drugs, injecting fresh uncertainty into efforts to replace the previous premier who was ousted by the Supreme Court. The warrant was announced after the Pakistan People’s Party nominated Makhdoom Shahabuddin, raising suspicion it was politically motivated and aimed at blocking the presi...

Syria rebels divided, at times violentSARJEH, Syria (AP) — Rebel commander Ahmed Eissa al-Sheikh keeps a paper on his desk bearing the names of the dead from his brigade. The first 16 are neatly typed below a Quranic verse extolling martyrdom. The next 14 are handwritten and crammed into the margin, because the paper is full. Al-Sheikh, an Islamist with a long black beard and gray fatigues, runs the Falcons of Damascus group from the mayor’s office in his village, which his fighte...

Auditors: Spain bank bailout could cost up to $78BMADRID (AP) — Spain’s troubled banks could need as much as (euro) 62 billion ($78.6 billion) in new capital to protect themselves from economic shocks, according to independent auditors hired by the government to assess the country’s struggling financial sector, officials said Thursday. The Spanish government will use the auditors’ report as the basis for their application for a bank bailout loan from the 17 countries that use the euro. With t...

Mexico troops detain son of most-wanted drug lordMEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican marines on Thursday detained a young man they believe is one of the sons of Mexico’s most-wanted drug kingpin, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel. The presumed son, identified by the Navy as Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar, was allegedly taking on an increasing leadership role in Mexico’s most powerful drug cartel and purportedly served as the administrator of his father’s fortune, estimate...